In order to tension the bowstring and limbs of a crossbow in advance of shooting a crossbolt (or bolt), a user typically uses a bow-cocking device to facilitate drawing the bowstring, as opposed to manually drawing the bowstring using the fingers alone. This is due to the high draw weight (up to 250 lb of force, or more) of most crossbows in conjunction with the relatively short length of the crossbow limbs (as compared to a recurve bow, for example) which reduces leverage. While some crossbows are provided with cam systems to facilitate drawing the bowstring and allowing for higher draw weights, such compound crossbows can be considerably more expensive than a traditional (non-compound) crossbow. Further, crossbows are frequently provided with an optical scope which is mounted in the area where the bowstring is engaged by the latch, making it difficult for a users fingers to engage the bowstring in the latch. Several bow-cocking devices are known. One such device (as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,128) provides crank mechanism (which can be actuated either manually or electrically) for drawing the bowstring. Such crank-cocking devices typically need to be incorporated as an integral part of the crossbow. A more common bow-cocking device is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 7,624,725. This latter device includes a continuous rope or cord, two connectors, and two handles attached at opposite ends of the cord. The connectors each include a hook, to engage a bowstring, and a pulley. The cord passes through the pulleys on the connectors, and further passes around the shoulder of the stock (where the stock joins the main body or frame of the crossbow). The device is thus a separate unit from the crossbow, and must be carried separately from the crossbow. The advantage of this latter style of bow-cocking device is that the handles attached to the cord allow the forces necessary for drawing the bowstring to be reduced by 50% and distributed over a wider area of the users fingers, thus reducing pressure on the users fingers. A disadvantage of this device is that, being a separate unit from the crossbow, it can be lost and become tangled during storage.